Whether or not you've hooked and sliced your way through 18 holes on one of the challenging golf courses in Brudenell, PEI, there's always a reward waiting for you at Club 19. Here, in this busy casual-style lounge, you're tempted with traditional pub fare so good you'll forget even the most disastrous of rounds. It might just be a hamburger, but it's a hamburger made with top-of-the-line beef and garnishes so fresh it's embarrassing. Well, that's what 31-year-old Michelle Morrison says. She should know, being the executive chef that brings it all together-hook, slice or sinker.
Aside from Club 19, Michelle is also in charge of Brudenell's Gordon Dining Room and the Stillwaters Fine Food & Spirits restaurant. Though the openings of the restaurants are staggered each spring, planning new menus for all three during the off-season has kept the young chef busy. Not an easy task, with so many different tastes to appease.
Club 19 is the first to open for the season. Depending on the weather, this could be as early as the end of April. Then the Gordon Dining Room, with its relaxed atmosphere, coincides with the opening of the resort in May. Last to open is the Stillwaters, which Michelle describes as "the most classic place to wine and dine a romantic love." Her own love, the one she goes home to after her long day's work, isn't permitted in any of the dining rooms. Just ask her about her dog, Hunter. It's a true love story. But we're digressing.
This young woman, who grew up in Belfast/Eldon, PEI, appeared destined for a career in the kitchen. After graduating from Montague Regional High School, she started on the first rung of the foodservice ladder-as a "salad boy/dishwasher."
"I have always loved food," she says. "I love the flavour and to feel the various textures in my mouth. Food is one thing, but cooking it is an art. So, I listened, and watched the chefs whatever they did so I could learn as much from them as possible."
A blank canvas for the artist? Perhaps. Before that first summer was out, Michelle jumped at an offer of employment at the Rodd Brudenell River resort. For more than four years, when she wasn't working her summer job, she was taking courses at the Culinary Institute of Canada, in Charlottetown. After graduating from both the cooking and pastry programs at the institute, she felt she needed a change. However, not wanting to leave the company, she accepted an appointment to the Rodd Miramichi River, in New Brunswick. Starting as a line cook, she moved on to become sous-chef during the four-and-a-half years she worked there.
Another move, this time to the Rodd Charlottetown hotel, eventually found her with 10 full years of experience and ready to accept the job of executive chef when the position turned up at the Rodd Mill River Resort in Mill River Provincial Park near Woodstock, PEI. Back in her home province, with her dream of being a head chef accomplished, the world was this young woman's oyster (Malpeque preferred).
She had earned her brownie points. The proof of the pudding was when she got the call to return to Brudenell as executive chef. Accomplished, experienced and eager to use it all, Michelle was home.
"Having grown up in the area and knowing most of the people here, I always meet friends on the road with a smile and a wave," she says. "I feel very comfortable at Brudenell, as if I were at home cooking for family. And the advantage of extending the warmth and comfort that Islanders are renowned for is definitely a plus for our industry."
Though Michelle has found her niche, she plans to continue beefing up her credentials. This past winter she hit the books once again at the Culinary Institute of Canada, becoming a student in the difficult "block release program." At the end of the program she passed the Red Seal exam, a recognized level of certification around the globe.
Among Michelle's changes to her menus this year are more healthy choices than in the past. There will be more baking, steaming and grilling than frying, she says. Menus include Island oysters, mussels, fresh finfish and Triple A beef. She also has big plans for her famous specialty pastries-well, she did say more baking, right?
